Talking can be cathartic and for Leinster it served a purpose in addressing the shortcomings of last weekend’s 35-0 defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town. The squad, those who played and those who watched on, got to have their say in an “honest review” thrown open to the floor. Nothing was off-limits.
Fullback Jimmy O’Brien offered an insight into the process, using words like “shock”, “disappointment” and “frustration” to convey the general mood, one that was “low” in the aftermath. Misery loves company, so Leinster players took solace in the group dynamic after the game and in spending some downtime on Saturday in Cape Town. The four walls of a hotel room weren’t going to provide any solutions.
There is always a balance to be struck between flagellation and firing up a resolve to be better. This weekend the Irish province takes on the Bulls at altitude in Pretoria. Leinster’s scope for improvement is considerable and they’ll need to broach the highest standards against the team they beat 32-7 in last season’s United Rugby Championship final.
It was just two years ago that Leinster were trampled 62-7 by the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. Last March Leo Cullen’s side were undone in Pretoria by a late penalty kick, going down 21-20 before avenging that defeat in the URC final at Croke Park in June.
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“I think someone mentioned in one of the meetings we’re still a good team,” said O’Brien. “We don’t become a terrible team overnight. Look, it was a terrible performance [against the Stormers], but as a collective I think we’ve good players, and good enough players down here [in South Africa], that we can put out a good performance and play well on Saturday.
“It’s not an easy place to go. I played here the last few times we lost. Obviously, a semi-final [in 2024] and then the kick in added time. I thought we played pretty well [in that match] for most of the game and put them under pressure.”
On a personal note, O’Brien craves a season without any disruption. He’s been unlucky, periodically, with injury, but towards the tail end of last season he managed to stay fit and that was reflected in him playing in some of Leinster’s big knockout matches.
The 28-year-old Eadestown native followed that up by winning a further two caps for Ireland during the summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal.
“I just want to stay fit for the whole season, touch wood, because that’s half the battle of trying to play well. Obviously I didn’t start too great on Friday night, but hopefully this weekend I can play a bit better.”
[ URC champions Leinster must come out fighting against Bulls, says McBryde ]
In the absence of Hugo Keenan, initially through injury, he started last season’s URC semi-final and final wins at fullback with Leinster and then, with Keenan away with the Lions in Australia, O’Brien wore 15 for Ireland in Tbilisi and Lisbon.
Keenan will be out potentially until the new year following surgery. O’Brien was handed first shot at fulfilling the fullback role.
The Stormers got a great deal of joy aerially last weekend through their box-kicking and punting, a trend that the Bulls will have picked up on and are likely to replicate. It was seldom about clean catches per se, but the Stormers were sharper to react to breaking balls.
This applied to contestable balls in the wing channels too. The change in “escorting” or blocking those who chase kicks places a premium on the timing and momentum of the jump when it comes to winning those duels. If everyone is on the ground, then it’s down to the simple physics of who’s tallest with the longest reach to win the initial tap.
O’Brien knows there are several players who can play across the backline – he can also play wing and centre to a high level – so he needs to nail down the jersey against the Bulls or risk forfeiting it.
In the context of the squad who travelled to South Africa he is a senior figure with more than 100 appearances and would consider himself to be open and amenable when it comes to younger players seeking help. Touring helps the bonding process, too.
“I feel like I’m pretty open if anybody wants to ask, pretty helpful in that as a leader off the pitch as well,” he says.
“You go down here [to South Africa], the group that travels usually get quite close because you spend a lot of time together. All the Lions lads that haven’t travelled. You don’t want to go back [home] without getting any points for the team or the club.
“When you come down here, you become a pretty tight-knit group and you really want to play for each other, try to pull out a performance for each other. It’s definitely something at the forefront of all our minds.”
What’s left now from a Leinster perspective this weekend is to produce a statement performance.
